Blood Brothers
by KatieTaylor
Summary: The one with Tex the dog. Third in the Vacation's Over 'verse.
1. Chapter 1

"You've got two uniforms missing."

They weren't missing at all. There was a set each of BDUs and of Blues hidden in the back of his closet.

"They got ruined on an Op."

"And you never requested new ones?"

"No."

"Even your Blues?"

"It was a bad day."

"Uh huh." But the supply clerk signed the form anyway. And that was it. Lieutenant Commander Steven J. McGarrett was no longer in the military.

505050

Danny Stepped Through the entry way into the pool compound. The metal gate swung closed behind him, but no one looked over at the noise. Steve stood at the edge of the pool, in board shorts and an old SEAL tee. He held his hands on his wet hips and looked down at the young group of men in the pool, and what seemed to be an underwater obstacle course. All of them had their eyes glued to Steve and, if it were possible for them to stand at attention while treading water, they were. Some of them looked smug, some had that look that he recognized on Steve's face when they were on the job. Focused.

Only two of the men seemed distracted from giving Steve their full attention. One looked like he thought he was about to get clubbed by the rest of them. The other seemed worried, his eyes shifting to Clubbed SEAL. It made Danny think back to stories Steve had told about him and Freddie and he imagined Steve having much the same expression directed at his friend.

Clubbed SEAL said something that Danny couldn't catch, his friend's worried look deepened, but he didn't say anything. Steve's reply carried to where Danny stood.

"You are a team. You succeed or fail as a team. The minute you forget that... is the minute you get hurt or killed. Or, even worse, your brother is."

Danny wasn't sure if any of these men noticed the so very subtle changes in his brother or if, despite even their training, only someone who knew him as well as Danny did would notice. And no one knew Steve as well as Danny. His expression showed a hint of sadness, a hint of regret; the emotion in his voice just that much thicker as he must have been recalling his friends lost and wounded.

If they weren't surrounded by a bunch of military guys, Danny would go over there and comfort him. While Steve was more open to that these days, there was a line – one that Danny completely understood and respected. And besides, the guy was at work. Danny was nothing if not professional.

"Reset the course," Steve commanded, "and run it again. _Together._ The slowest time will be recorded for the entire team and if you don't work _as a team_ , you will run it again. And again." Well, Danny really hoped that didn't happen. He was looking forward to dinner and it was Steve's turn to buy.

Steve sent them on their way and Danny took the time to reflect on the changes he'd seen in his friend over the past few months.

Of course, Danny never wanted to change Steve. He didn't believe in changing people to fit his ideal mould. That's probably why he and Rachel could never work – opposites may attract in some ways, but not in that. No, he never wanted to change Steve. He just wanted the guy to be truly happy. Sure there had always been moments of happiness, of laughter, but they'd always been too brief for Danny's liking. He needed to tease them out of his friend. Things were different now, though. Those moments were more frequent, didn't need coaxing and lasted so much longer – days even. Better still, Steve finally seemed so much more comfortable in his own skin.

The guy's leg was fucked. The wound still hadn't healed quite right. He sported an angry scar and while he wasn't in constant pain, it was sometimes something that could not be ignored. And even now he watched Steve rub his wounded leg as the SEAL (he'd always be a SuperSEAL to Danny. What? Shut Up.) watched his guys in the water. The idiot had probably pushed himself too far in the pool today. In short, he would have been out of the SEALs anyway, even if he hadn't thrown it all away to come save Danny's sorry ass. Of course, perhaps if he hadn't done that, hadn't aggravated the wound, things might have been different.

But just as he didn't believe in changing people, he also knew not to dwell on 'what if's'. He'd done enough of that when his marriage imploded. Besides, Steve was _happy_ now. Who knew when that would have happened otherwise, when he would have stopped running. Maybe he never would have.

Steve had been out of the military for three months now and split his time between volunteering here with SEAL training and working with Five-0. Technically he was back to being Team Lead, but Danny was in charge when it came to the actual Ops. Steve still went out as Danny's partner to crime scenes, to question witnesses. He was still... unorthodox, but he had mellowed a lot. Danny put that down to two things – the courses he'd taken at the Policy Academy on the Navy's dime, and the fact that his friend realized he didn't need to save everyone all on his own anymore. During major Ops and raids – basically anything where they planned on mayhem from the start – his leg benched him and Danny took over. He supported them at HQ, or in a surveillance van, or by running interference with HPD.

And, he never once complained. He seemed to genuinely love his job now. Loved his life. He was _happy._ Danny couldn't think it enough because every time he did, every time he thought about how that brilliant smile was now mostly in place, instead of 'hardly ever', Danny got that much happier himself.

Steve hadn't changed so much as finally settled into his life. Finally _allowed_ himself to be happy, to forgive himself, to put aside the things that he'd had no control over in the first place.

Hell, Danny didn't even care that he _still_ barely got to drive his own car, and it was even worse now that they lived in the same house.

Danny was pulled from his reverie by the whoops and hollers of the SEALs' cheers, and the splashing of the men getting out of the water with a surprising lack of grace. He figured that all SEALs would look like Steve did in the water. Maybe they were just too excited.

"That's your best time of the day, boys. Take off. I'll see ya Monday." They all said their thanks you and goodbyes, informal but still never forgetting the 'Sir'. Good thing, too, or Danny might have something to say about it. Informal and joking was fine and good, but Steve deserved respect.

"Great speech, babe," Danny said, finally walking towards his friend once the last of the SEALs had left.

Steve raised an eyebrow, moving over to a shelf where his phone, badge and gun lay and grabbed a nearby towel to dry off. "That was hardly a speech. It was like two sentences."

Danny shrugged, grinning. "Short, to the point, got a perfect message across, rallied the troops or whatever. Actually, I revise my comment: it sounds like the perfect speech. Perhaps you should give speech writing classes or something as well."

SuperSEAL laughed. "I think I'll pass on that one. Thanks, though."

He picked up his phone and noticed a text message. "Huh."

"Everything all right, babe?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. It's just Tom. Wants me to call him. I'm gonna go get changed—"

"Thank you for that."

Steve smirked. "And I'll call him from the car on the way to dinner. Meet me out front?"

505050

"Hey Smooth Dog, long time no speak."

"Yeah, sorry, it's been crazy around here."

"You know you're supposed to relax when you retire, right."

Danny piped up. "I've been trying to tell him that for months. The Neanderthal won't listen." All three hey laughed at Steve's expense.

"How's it going, Tom?"

"Pretty good, actually."

"Don't sound so surprised, man."

"Well, we don't have you here anymore, so things are a lot more boring." Yup. Danny could relate to that.

"Ha. Ha. How's the—"

"Team's good, too, Steve." Danny could hear the laughter in his voice. Steve _was_ pretty predictable. "But that is actually why I'm calling."

The Detective was ecstatic that he'd started off by saying the Team was good. Otherwise, he'd probably be having a heart attack right now. Steve was doing so good, but who knew what would happen if something happened to his Team while he wasn't there.

Hi friend, however, looked like he'd blocked that sentence out. He sat ramrod straight in the driver's seat, hands white knuckled on the steering wheel. Danny reached out to rub a hand across his shoulder.

"What happened," he finally ground out.

Tom's voice was instantly serious. He must have realized what Steve was thinking. "I said the Team's good, man. Relax."

"I'm relaxed." Silence on the other end of the line. "Okay, fine, I'm relaxed _now_. Mostly."

"Go ahead, Tom," Danny instructed.

"I just wanted to call you about Tex. And before you say anything, yes, he's fine. Other than starting to develop a bit of arthritis, nothing's changed. That has, however, moved up his retirement date."

A smile spread across Danny's face. Steve noticed and raised a questioning eyebrow. This couldn't be more fucking perfect if he'd planned it himself, because Danny could see no reason why Tom would call to specifically tell him about this. No reason except one.

"That sucks, man," Steve was saying. "How long you guys got? I know you thought you'd have another year with him at least."

"Yeah, we're sending him home next month. He's still great, a prime candidate for adoption. But you know what he's like, I thought he'd love to be with people he knows. My sister's allergic pretty bad though, and my parents are really too old to take care of him. I, uh, I was thinking..." He trailed off, like he wanted Steve to fill in the blanks, or maybe he was worried Steve would say no, or feel too guilty to say anything other than 'yes' if Tom right out asked.

Steve, however, seemed to only just be catching on to what was happening. Danny watched the surprise flit across his face, hope and excitement settling in after that. He turned to Danny and... sweet fuck that smile went all the way up to his hairline.

Looks like Danny was finally getting another dog.

"Steve?" Tom asked.

"You... you want me to take him?"

"Well, only if you want. You're familiar with MWDs and especially Tex. You've got that awesome yard for him to play in... I just thought—"

"No, you're right. Can I, uh, can I get back to you? I gotta talk it over with Danny." The Detective raised an eyebrow at that, but said nothing for the moment.

"Yeah, just don't wait too long. They're going to start the paperwork on Monday to send him home and get ready to find him a new family. If I already have a place for him by then, Tex won't have to go through all that."

"Yeah, of course. I'll get back to you Sunday night, if not before. And Tom? Uh... Thanks man. It really means a lot that you'd think of me for this."

"Are you kidding? You're the only choice, man." They said their good-byes and Steve ended the call.

The car was silent for a minute and then they were arriving at the restaurant. It wasn't until the waitress had walked away with their food orders half an hour later that They had a chance to talk about it.

"Steven?"

"Yeah, Danny?" And bloody hell, the guy actually looked worried. Did Steve think he wouldn't allow it or something? How did Danny even get a say in this anyway?

"Why didn't you just tell him yes on the phone? Why did you want to talk to me first?"

"Well, it's not my house Danny." Danny just narrowed his eyes at him. That was pretty much the only thing they'd actually fought about since Steve got back. He refused to put the house back in his name. "Okay, whatever. But you live there, too."

"You know I like dogs, babe. Until I met your Team, I thought _you_ were the one who didn't like them."

"Well, I wasn't sure you'd trust him around Grace." Every time he pulled the Grace card, Danny loved his friend just a little bit more.

"To be honest, Steve, I don't really know this dog. But why wouldn't I trust him? I trust you."

Steve narrowed his eyes, but his lips twisted into a grin. "Did you... did you just compare me to a dog?"

"Well, Smooth Dog, you _are_ an animal, and I'm sure you've seen and done more than he has. But that's not actually what I meant. I trust you. If you trust Tex with Grace, then that's good enough for me."

Steve's smile grew even more. And really, as excited as he seemed about this, Danny would do anything to make this happen for his friend. It was probably the best thing to happen to him in a long time.

"This will be great, babe. You'll be able to take care of your Team."

His grin turned a little goofy. "Yeah."

"So you gonna call the poor guy back, or make him sweat out the entire weekend?"

The SEAL laughed. "I'll call him when we get home."

The waitress came by with the drinks they'd ordered. Steve ran his fingers through the condensation on his glass. Danny recognized the 'I'm going to blow shit up now' face; which often simply translated into 'Danno is not going to like this' face.

"What, babe?"

"What?"

"Hey, I asked you first. What's with the face. What's got you thinking so hard."

Some more patterns through the glass. "Do you think Rachel would let you take Grace to the mainland? Just for a couple of days."

"She'd better if I asked. She takes Grace all over the damn place."

"What about if it's not your weekend?"

"Well, again, Rachel's done that to me enough times. I could just remind her of that fact. If she's being a bitch – although she hasn't been for quite a while, actually – I might have to switch weekends or give something up but I really don't see it being a problem."

"Oh, well, I don't want to do anything that would take away from—"

"Babe! You wanna maybe tell me what you're planning?"

Steve finally looked up from his glass, a crooked smile on his face. Seriously, the guy was like an adorable five year old sometimes.

"I was thinking that when Tex comes back stateside, we could maybe take Grace to go see him before we one hundred percent agree on anything. I don't want to bring Tex into the house if he's gonna scare her, or she doesn't like him."

"Steve." Danny reached out and tapped his wrist, a gesture that he'd started doing months ago without even realizing it, but seemed to calm his friend when he started going down these kinds of rabbit holes. "Grace trusts you, too. Okay?" Steve nodded and Danny sat back in his chair again. "But that sounds like a great idea anyway. I haven't really been able to take her a lot of places the last couple of years. It will be nice to take a little trip with her. Where'd we be going?"

"Well, the dogs usually go back to the training facility in Texas—"

"Seriously? Tex comes from Texas? Could they get any less original? Please don't tell me they're _all_ called Tex."

Steve laughed. "I don't actually know why they called him Tex. I'll ask Tom. But no, they don't all have that name. Anyway, they'd usually go to Texas, but I'll see if we can meet him in Coronado."

"Grace would like that. She'd love to see another place you've lived. I would too, actually."

He was rewarded with a thousand watt smile. "I'll try and make that happen then. And I want Grace to be honest. Not that I think she'd lie of course," he hurriedly amended. "But if she's really not sure, that's okay. At least we'll know before he gets into the house. I'll have time to look for a new place or something. Shut up. It's not up for discussion."

Danny picked his battles, didn't mention anything about the house. But he was happy that Steve would still take Tex, no matter what. Danny couldn't wait.


	2. Chapter 2

"-And then can I bring him to school next month, Uncle Steve? We have animal day and—"

"Monkey..."

Danny tried to reel his daughter back in, but it was no use. From the moment he and Steve had told her about Tex, she had been on Cloud Nine. He'd tried to remind her again and again that it was not a done deal. Sure it really kind of was a done deal, but anything could happen between now and the time Tex finally came home with them. He didn't think he could deal with the disappointment from both Steve and Grace. It had been no use, though. She reminded Danny of when she was seven and Rachel would pump her full of sugar before his visits. Except that this sugar high wasn't ending.

"Of course you can, kiddo. That sounds like fun."

Danny looked over at his friend and could practically see his brain coming up with all sorts of ideas for things they could do at this event. He sighed. They were as bad as each other, really. His two kids. When had he signed up for _two_ kids?

"Steve, stop—" The shrill of Steve's phone interrupted them before he could finish. The brunette looked down at the screen nestled in the truck's center console. He scowled and reached down to send the call to voice mail. Hand returned to the wheel and both tightened their grip.

"What's up?"

Steve let out a huff of annoyance, but otherwise didn't reply until the white in his knuckles disappeared a minute later. His answer was a mumble that Danny couldn't quite catch. He laughed at his friend.

"Sorry babe, I didn't quite catch that."

Another huff. "It was a publisher."

"A publisher. Like a book publisher? They know you only read _Guns and Ammo_ right? And even then, I think you just look at the pretty pictures."

Steve turned to him with a raised eyebrow; Danny just smirked at him. Another sigh and Steve turned back to the road.

"They want me to write a book."

"They... want you to write what?"

"That would be so cool, Uncle Steve!" Steve looked at Grace in the rear-view mirror and smiled at her.

"Yeah. This woman, Donna Patrick, she's been hounding me for a couple of weeks. Won't take no for an answer."

"No offence babe, but... why?"

Steve shrugged. "A Navy SEAL writes a book and it's an automatic best seller. I guess the big publishers are actively recruiting."

"Huh. I didn't realize so many guys were doing that. Seems... I dunno... wrong or something."

"Yup." A long pause. "I guess they can't pass up the money."

"Oh yeah? How much?"

Steve turned to him with a smirk. "More every time I turn them down."

Danny laughed. "Finally figured out those negotiation skills, huh?"

"Sure. You know, except that there's pretty much nothing they could offer me that would make me even consider it."

"Everyone at school would be super jealous if you wrote a book."

The former SEAL chuckled. "Sorry Gracie, I'm not gonna write the book." He watched her pout in the mirror. "But they'll still think Tex is pretty cool, huh?"

"Yes!" And she was off again until Danny had to quiet her down as they approached the front gate of Pearl-Hickam. "Oh! Are we here?"

"Sure are, kiddo." If she wasn't belted in, Danny was certain she'd bounce right out of her seat. He couldn't help but smile to himself. Some days he felt like she was growing up too fast, like any day now she was going to be too cool to hang out with him, to give him a special Grace hug, to call him Danno. Then there were days like today, where she just didn't care and she was his little monkey.

As Steve showed his ID to the guard and explained their business, Danny couldn't help but smile to himself. Bringing Tex into their house was going to be great for everyone.

"I don't see why we couldn't take a regular flight, like normal people," Danny groused as they pulled away from the guard post. He'd meant it as a joke, but it carried a little bit more heat than he'd intended. He couldn't really help it. This wasn't going to be the first military transport he had ever taken, and none of his other flights had ever led to anything in even the same time zone as 'good'.

"Aw, c'mon Danno, it's going to be an adventure!" Grace called.

"Yeah, Danno, adventures are awesome!" Steve took one of his hands off the wheel and grasped his shoulder. Though his voice carried the same light-hearted tone as Grace's had, when Danny turned to him, there was worry in his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah." He smiled at Steve, telling him he'd be fine. After all, they were with Grace and that was nothing but good.

He wasn't gonna lie to himself, though. When Steve had suggested it to Grace, Danny wanted to smack him upside the head. He'd been able to arrange to meet with Tom and Tex in Coronado as hoped. Grace was, as predicted, excited to see a place that Steve had spent so much time in. Seeing how interested she really was in learning more about his time in the military, he'd suggested taking a military transport "if I can arrange it – no promises, though, Gracie". Grace squealed as if he'd just give her and all her friends backstage passes to a One Direction concert.

Steve had apologized after. "I shouldn't have said that without talking to you about it first, Danny." It _would_ be cheaper than a commercial flight, though, he'd reasoned. But he had given them an out – after all it couldn't be arranged if Danny didn't want it to be. But Danny agreed. He couldn't turn down the price, after all, not to mention how excited Grace had been at the idea. Didn't mean he had to like it.

It only took a few minutes to drive from the guard post to the small terminal. They carried their overnight bags inside and the Williams sat on stiff metal chairs while Steve went up to check in and make sure they were still able to get on the flight. He'd warned them that they could easily get bumped if an active duty member wanted the seat, or for other operational reasons. As he turned back to them, however, the ex-SEAL wore a smile, so Danny figured they were good to go. He turned to look at his daughter who, despite how rambunctious she had been in the car, had grown silent beside him.

"Everything all right, Monkey?" She seemed nervous, which Danny thought was strange. Despite how young she was, Grace Williams was practically an old pro at flying.

She looked up at him and smiled and nodded, but turned right back to looking at the others sitting around the room. Aside from the three of them, there was a young woman with four kids that all looked younger than six – Danny winced – and about a dozen guys in various colours of uniforms. Steve made his way back to them at that moment, and he sat next to Grace.

"We'll be heading out to the aircraft in about half an hour." He looked down at Grace, probably expecting her to be bouncing in her seat. She was not, and Danny saw Steven's features shift to concern in an instant. "Hey, what's up, kiddo?" He rubbed a hand up and down her back. "You changing your mind? Remember what I said? Until we get on that plane, we can change our minds, buy some real plane tickets. You just let me know."

She shook her head and looked up at him. "Uncle Steve," she whispered. "Are all those men going to war?"

Steve blinked, like that was the last question he was expecting, then turned around to take in the group. Danny wondered what he was looking for as he scanned the crowd. A moment later he turned back, sparing Danny a glance before focusing back on Grace.

"Maybe a couple of them," he answered honestly. As far as Danny knew, Steve had never lied to Grace. "The rest are probably just going to the mainland. Maybe they've been transferred, or they're going on training. They could just be on vacation, but Active Duty guys have to wear their uniforms on the plane."

"Oh."

"All right?" Grace looked up at her uncle and grinned. That looked a lot more convincing than when Danny had asked her. "Great."

Steve leaned back in his chair and opened an arm in invitation, looking up at Danny like he was asking permission as he did so. Like Danny would ever deny his friend Grace-hugs or vice versa. Grace leaned into Steve and wrapped her arms around him and then they were off again, talking about what they were going to do with Tex when they brought him to school.

Danny look up and met the mother's eyes across the room. They shared a small smile of understanding... It was going to be a long flight for them both. But Danny thought it would probably be the best flight he'd ever been on.


	3. Chapter 3

Danny hadn't known you could get PTSD flashbacks by just sitting in an airplane. On the plus side, he wasn't too old to learn new things. Yay.

There had been too many trips on these planes with the temporary webbed seats, the bare walls, the cargo strapped just a few feet to his left, uniforms all around him. North Korea – the Five-0 team silent until a half hour before they landed when Joe called them over to join the planning the SEALs had been doing; then not taking his eyes off Steve's battered body the entire flight back. Cambodia – which, actually, hadn't been that bad except that Steve had been stressed beyond belief and Danny'd had to keep him grounded.

Afghanistan. Columbia.

Steve had taken Grace up to the cockpit; the mother, Jane, had taken the kids on a potty parade. He was alone with the uniforms who were all silent. He tugged his blazer closer around him. He remembered sitting in almost this exact same spot, flying out to fucking Afghanistan. He was going there to find and rescue Steve but he knew it wasn't going to work. It was the goddamn Taliban, after all. Danny would be lucky to find his brother's body. He didn't know how he'd be able to come home without Steve. But his fears hadn't come true. Danny looked down, expecting to see Steve in the stretcher. Instead, it was an oil barrel at his feet. That time, he _had_ failed a brother. He'd only made it home because of Steve.

He squeezed his eyes shut and when he opened them, he was enveloped in shadow. Steve stood in front him, towering over him, effectively blocking him from the view of everyone else on the plane.

"Danny?"

The cop's eyes went wide as he realized what happened and he looked around for Grace. Steve put a hand on his shoulder and sat down beside him.

"Relax, buddy. She's over playing with the other kids. I don't think she noticed anything." Steve looked over to the right and Danny followed his gaze to find Grace entertaining the young children. Jane seemed immensely relieved at the help.

He looked back at Steve, who looked a bit guilty. Of course he did. Because of course Steve would know he'd freak out on the plane, even when Danny himself hadn't known, and did this anyway just to torture him. Goof. The tension drained away; the last, fading ghosts of the memories finally disappeared. He grinned.

"Where'd you take my Monkey, huh? Please tell me you weren't teaching her how to jump out of the plane. There is no reason for anyone to jump out of a perfectly functioning plane, Steven, especially my beautiful daughter."

Steve smirked. "But what if it's not a perfectly functional plane, Danno? Don't you want her to be prepared?"

"Like you would put my girl on a broken plane."

"So I probably shouldn't tell you about—"

"Matthew!" Danny looked up to see a toddler barrelling toward them and then trip over the uneven floor. Danny caught the boy before he face planted and Steve squeezed his should before he turned to the young family.

505050

The rest of the flight had been uneventful. The only thing to note was that, although they didn't mention Danny's minor panic attack, Steve didn't leave his side again unless Grace called for him. After a while, they started talking with Jane and they all started playing with the kids and Jane was actually able to take a bit of a nap.

Danny and Steve bickered; Jane laughed at them, the uniforms pretended to ignore them. Danny, Steve and Grace helped Jane get the kids off the plane and to their waiting father. Steve rented a car and he drove them around for the day, showing them all the sites, before checking into the hotel.

 _"I'll agree to the plane, Steven," Danny had said when they planned the trip, "but I demand a hotel – a good one! There will be no lean-tos or tents or any other kind of Rambo military wilderness survival crap. You got me?"_

 _A smirk "Yeah, Danno, I got ya."_

 _"Aw, but adven—"_

 _"No Monkey, light of my life, Danno can't handle that much adventure."_

 _"Sure you can, babe. You can do anything."_

 _A melting heart; almost caving. "No. Nyet. Whatever 'no' is in Hawaiian."_

The next day would be Tex Day and the 'kids' could hardly sleep. Grace fought sleep tooth and nail – really, since when did teenagers fight sleep? And he'd had to kick Steve out of the Williams room well after midnight.

They'd met with Tom for breakfast that morning who answered all of Grace's questions and, together with Steve, told all of Tex's war stories that he couldn't tell himself. Including how he got his name. (As a newly adopted puppy, his trainer had been bringing Tex and his fellow puppy trainees to the training facility. The trainer had stopped for gas at a Texaco station and Tex wouldn't stop barking. They never did find out why; perhaps the little guy really just liked Texaco?)

Tom drove with them to the base where Steve gave another mini-tour, and the two SEALs traded embarrassing (but not too embarrassing for teenage ears) stories about each other until they arrived at the kennels. Steve even told a story about Freddie.

Tex greeted Tom enthusiastically and was happy to see Steve and then it was the moment of truth. Danny watched Grace carefully, and while she did everything Steve and Tom told her to, she didn't seem nervous at all. Tex looked at her, wagging his tail slowly, tilted his head. As he walked over to his daughter, Danny had to remind himself that neither Tom nor Steve had shown any concern about the dog. They stood side by side, arms crossed loose across their chests, smiling. Tex barked once and Danny turned back in time to see the dog drag his wet tongue up the entire right side of Grace's face. She shrieked in laughter.

"Well," Tom said, though his own laughter. "looks like we have a winner! Why don't we take him out for some exercise?"

Grace hopped up and ran over to Danny. "Can we please!?"

Which is how Danny came to be standing on a beach, looking out to the Pacific in the wrong direction; the sun starting to set in a display that was nowhere near as breathtaking as back home (don't tell Steve). Grace and Steve were playing Monkey in the Middle with a tennis ball, except Tex was the monkey instead of Grace. Even Steve's laughter carried through the air to where he stood; Grace looked eight again, not fifteen.

"You know," Tom said, appearing at Danny's side and offering a cup of coffee, which Danny accepted with a nod of thanks, "this is the beach the SEALs use for training." That put the scene before him in a whole new light. He remembered the stories of Freddie and training in the water; a younger, more carefree Steve McGarrett – but still not as carefree as he was right now.

Danny took a sip of the coffee and turned to the SEAL. "I can't thank you enough for this. It was really hard on Steve when he decided to leave. This is like giving him part of his Team back."

Tom nodded. "Well, it's not nearly as hard as not coming back for you would have been on him. Clearly, it was the best decision he's ever made. We weren't close friends – only as close as any SEAL team with a great leader is – but I could tell how much you guys meant to him. And as for Tex, well, this is the best thing for him, too."

They sipped their coffees and watched Steve and Grace and Tex play for several minutes before Tom spoke again.

"When are you guys headed back?"

"We're going to do the tourist thing tomorrow for Grace while you guys finish up with our new buddy here. We fly out Monday. _Commercial_." He insisted with a grin.

Tom laughed. "Well all right then."

"The kids—"

"Kids?" Danny raised an eyebrow and looked back out towards the water. "Ah right."

"The kids wanted the 'adventure' of military transport. I compromised, insisted we fly back like normal, civilized human beings." A pause. "No offense."

"None taken. I hate those things. Never fly military if I don't have to."

"Huh, look at that. Not all SEALs are crazy."

"Well, I wouldn't say that..."

"Hey, let me have my fantasy."

"Danno! Come play with us!" One of them called out to him.

"It's getting late!" He yelled back.

"Five more minutes!" Called the other one.

Danny smiled.

 **a/n This is it, y'all. The end of this series. The 4th in this series - the Christmas fic - is a little snapshot of life with Tex. I have no plans for any more stories in this series. That could change but at the moment, this is it. Thanks for following along and for all your comments along the way! :)**


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